A week or so ago, I had my new G0454Z planer dellivered. I haven’t gotten it fully set up yet, since I haven’t yet decided where it’s going to go – and where to put the 30A 240V circuit.

Meanwhile, I’ve been working with Grizzly to get a small but very annoying problem solved.

The handwheel which raises and lowers the table cannot be installed as designed because it grinds against the gear cover on the side of the machine – mostly because the shaft hole drilled through the handwheel is not axial or square. I’ve tried 3 handwheels from Griz so far. They have been quick to send one out when I asked, and have not asked me to pay for them, but I still haven’t gotten the problem solved. Last night I uploaded this (admittedly terrible) video to YouTube so that I could let them see what’s going on.

If you are considering ordering from Grizzly, you might want to have a look. I’ll post updates as the problem resolution continues. If I get the time, I’ll try to do a full review of this planer in the next month or so.

at 7 minutes you can see the run out on the shaft. if you have another nut jam them together and then you can use a wrench to turn the shaft and measure the run out. it looks like at least .015” that could amplify by the time it gets to the end of the 10 inch wheel.

I would consider posting another video with the dial indicator set-up, and e-mail Grizzly a clear statement including all previous correspondence with them if possible. I would also send them a link to the video’s. At $1,750.00 give or take I think they should make good on their product.

You might want to link them here, telling them that you will be re-posting their replies here, just so people know that they are attempting to resolve the issue promptly and fairly. They might even through in a spiral cutterhead for sending a scratch and dent item. Most of us buy a woodworking tool to work wood, not to tinker as a machinist / millwright, never mind the machine – project downtime.

It looks to me as though you have a bent shaft that the hand wheel goes onto. Take a dial indicator and turn the shaft to check if the shaft if turning straight (called run out). If you don’t have a dial indicator clamp something over the shaft and measure the distance between the piece you clamped on as you turn the shaft.

It looks to me like you have bent shaft. It could have gotten bumped during transit.

Paul, the wheel on my Grizzly is out of round big time, too. It’s the wheel, not the shaft. You may want to get Grizzly to send you one of their spoke type hand wheels. I’ve used them for several applications and they seem to be better made. http://www.grizzly.com/products/Cast-Iron-Handwheel-8-/H3190

@cr1: Yeah. I certainly wonder what’s going to happen when I actaully turn this thing on and what else is going to be messed up.

@RobWoodCutter : I thought that there might be more than one problem – such as the cover misalligned or the shaft too short. Still, it’s clear that the wheel is a problem – and even if it didn’t rub on the cover, I would not be happy with it wobbling like that, but I will take a look at the cover. Thanks. I was all set on buying the 15in Powermatic, but a friend who has a 20” Griz convinced me that the extra size was important, so I went with the 20” Griz which is about the same price as the 15” Powermatic. The 20” spiral Powermatic is about $1300 more.

@skeeter : I thought that myself at one point, but I think what you’re seeing is the bushing wobbling. The bushing is a bit oversized and was pinched between the washers and whatever is in the machine at the base of the shaft, so it’s flopping around a little. I did a runout test with a dial indicator and the shaft looked OK. Also, since I did the tests without the key in place, the shaft is not turning. Even if it were bent, it would not produce the effect shown on the video. I did look at the inside of the shipping crate over where that shaft was pointing and saw no indication that the shaft had contacted the inside of the crate. Thanks for the tip about using a jam nut to turn the shaft. I don’t have another 12mm nut, but I may buy one and do that.

@casual1carpenter: This is the spiral cutter version. Of course, I wouldn’t mind them giving me some money back. :-) You are right that I should do the runout test again on video, and edit the video a little to make to quicker to look at. I expect them to make good on it. So far, they have been very prompt to mail out more handwheels.

@Duffa: I did the runout test. The shaft tested ok within 1/1000. Also, for the video, I took the key out and the shaft is not turning, so the wheel has to be mis-drilled. I did check the inside of the packing crate and saw no indication that the shaft had impacted the inside of the crate. It was shipped with the handwheel off.

@tenontim: Thanks for the tip on the alternate handwheel. Perhaps I can get them to send me one.

@ChuckV : I specifically asked them (after the 2nd bad wheel) to have one inspected before sending me another – and they assured me that they would do that.

Thanks again to everybody who endured the long and poor videos and commented.

i have the same planer and have not found any problems.it was bought about 10 days ago. it looks to me the hole is not bored straight.one thing they don’t mind using is alot of grease.when you get the wheel fixed you are going to really like this machine.best of luck

Thanks so much for taking the time to measure and make the drawing. I’ll take a look at it and my planer and see if Griz will send me one of those wheels.

@dean2336,

Thanks for the encouraging words. I still feel quite hopeful that the planer will turn out to be fine when I get this little matter resolved. We must have ordered around the same time. I wonder how you got a good handwheel, when I’ve received 3 bad ones. Yes, they sure do grease it up. I used engine degreaser which worked quickly and well. No problem.

Friday before Christmas (12/23) somebody from Griz called and told me they were shipping another type of handwheel. I forgot to ask where they were shipping it, but after a few days figured out that it wasn’t to my home. When I returned to work Jan 3, I found it there. (That was one of the places I have had things shipped from Griz). The latest wheel is of the type so carefully measured by RobWoodCutter (thanks again!) and works perfectly on my planer. I’ll still try to post more on the planer as I get it up and running. I have been busy with other things (Christmas and building a lumber rack), so I actually still having hooked power to the planer. Soon. Soon. :-)

I mounted a Wixey digital thickness gauge on it (had to drill some holes and make a bracket to make it fit). I really like that I can dial in any thickness I want within 5 thousanths or better.

The planer works OK. There are a few things not perfect about it.

1) One of the two knobs you tighten to lock the thickness tends to get unscrewed from the thingy on the other side of the planer and require re-jiggering it now and then. I think some thread locker (Locktight) would take care of that. (Sorry for the vague description. I don’t have manual with me right now to give the propper names of things).

2) Some pieces of wood tend to hang on the lip of one of the slots in the table – seems to be worse on the left than on the right. I haven’t figured out exactly what the problem is. I think it would be better if the leading edge of the table on the other side of the roller slots were chamfered to prevent the end of the board from hanging on it. This is not a high-precision job if you don’t mind what it looks like. A steady hand on some kind of hand grinder might could chamfer that withoug doing any damage, but I’m not inclined to attempt that as long as it’s not too annoying – which right now, it isn’t. This is probably a common problem with any planer. I could just chamfer the end of the board with a belt sander to get the same effect – since the end is likely to be cut off anyway, but that’s an extra step and awkward to do with long boards.